The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1887-09-09
WORKOUT ARGUMENTS.

WORKOUT ARGUMENTS. 4
WIZ An glasses q I.abes Are PreessAsl
~ The Kxlssla4 1ASl9
The WORKOUT arguments againa
American industries and the best inter
ests of American working-men have
been shown up time and again, but W.
suppose the exigencles Of the campaigI
will compel their production in the pr
pers and ON the stump from this tins
until the election next November. Herr
Is the statement of the free-trade posi-
ton:
The census Of the United States discloses
thu fact that in round numbers 1s,5N.0OO per
soma in the United States are engaged in gain
full occupations; that II, this number Of citizen,
work in some manner for living. OF this gres'
come in competition with foreign manufacture
II protection IL for any thing ut all 1t Is for the
benefit of this Glass; but while It Is claimed, but
not conceded, that these persons are protected
there are 16,675,OOO toilers who are not ham
pered by foreign competition Of any character
Now, as this great army Of non-protected work
ers Is twenty-one times rs large Is the SO
able that legislation should take turn TO thu
side of this overwhelming majority!
Thee in the above is in assum-
ing that no workman is benefited by
the tariff save those who are engaged
in the production of articles upon
whose importation there is duty.
This is manifest untruth,
The fact is well known that the
wages of working-men in Great
Britain. for instance, are much lower
than in corresponding lines of work in
America. The tariff enables higher
wages to be paid here than in that
country; that is. the one great rea son
why goods can be manufactured more
cheaply in England than here is be-
cause the cost of the necessary labor
is much less there. Put the rate of
wages in all lines in this country down
to the level of English wages, and
goods can probably be made here
just as chcaply as there.
But (supposing for the sake Of argu-
ment that the figures in the above ex-
tract are correcD what would happen
if those $4,000 workers had their
waGSs reduced to the English levele
What would be the result on other
wage workers.? There is no intelligent
man but knows thar wages would take
II drop all along the industrial line.
Not only the mechanics. but the day
labOrers. the clerks in the offices and
stores. the employees on the railways
in point of fact. every man who works
for wages. whether he calls it wages
Or salary. would feel the effects.
The figures given above are mislead-
ing in two ways: first. because the
of persons engaged directly in
protected industries has very largely
increased since 1880; second. because
that number as given above simply in
,ludes the men actually employed at
The trades directly coming under the
tariff.
To illustrate: Take a rolling mill,
Tor instance. This enumeration EN-
braces the men actually employed in
the pudding and heating fur
laces, and the various machines for
the iron into the required
shapes. 1t does not include the en-
,ineers and firemen, nor the teamsters,
nor the clerks in the Office, nor the
miners. who get out the coal which the
mill uses. nor the men who manufact-
IRE the coke, nor the railway employees
who handle the trains which haul the
coal from the mine to the mill. nor
hose who transport iron from the mill
10 market. nor the watchmen of the
mill, nor any of the other persons who
are. directly or indirectly, given en-
ployment, in whole or in part, through
the fact that the mill is running. The
wages Of all these men go. in whole or
in part, to make up the cost of the
iron; and to put its pro-
luction on \ level with English pro-
luction. the wages of all these men
must be cut down accordingly.
1t will be seen that this would multi
ply the S25. 900 persons figured above
several times. And it is equally clear
that reduction of the wages of ali
men employed directly or indirectly in
all protected industries would affect at
once Il very large proportion of the
Il, 500, 900 persons employed in gainful
in the United States in
1880. 1t is a fact. proved time and
again by experience. that when the
wages of any considerable portion of
the wage-wOrkers are reduced. the fall
affects all men who work for pay.
When a period of industrial depression
comes. and wages go down in manu-
establishments. it is well
known that the decline affects every
And when wages go
up in any one class of labor, that in
crease is felt more or less throughout
all other classes of labor in the coun-
try.
Here are the absolute facts of the
whole matter: Protection helps every
wage-worker by keeping the rate Of
wages up in all protected lines of in
dustry and in all lines of labor depend
ent upon them.
To remove the protective feature
to retain a tariff for revenue. but so
framed as not to prOtect-simply
means that the wages of every man
who is employed by anybody else will
no rp.luced TOledO RL0He
PROTECTION ITEMS.
- The free trade doctrine in Yir.